Thanos fired twin bolts of pure Cosmic Force at our raiding party. My life flashed before my eyes. I remembered the good times, courting Moira, taking long walks in the park and talking about our future together. The plans Magneto and I made to pave the way for peace between Man and Mutant, back before he turned all evil. The few nights of wild pleasure with Vampirella. It looked like this would be the thing that finally kills me.

Just before the beams struck however, Magdalena jumped in front of me. She raised her weapon, the Spear of Destiny, which had survived the destruction of the Sinister clones' rocket, and shouted out "God's Eternal Light!"

Somehow that was enough to absorb a great deal of the Cosmic bolts. The X-Men and I were still sent sprawling from the backlash though. I really didn't think we could survive another such assault and Thanos was powering up again. I looked over at Maggie and saw that she was invoking some other prayer. A shimmering winged female warrior materialized behind her.

"She's my Guardian Angel!" Maggie shouted.

"Man, that chick is hot," Private Hudson said. Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator smacked him in the back of the head.

The Angel charged at Thanos, just as he unleashed two more blasts of Cosmic Force, the very fabric of the Universe, straight at her. There was no way she could endure that kind of energy. Gaia raised her hands and gestured towards the dark god. A rip in space opened up just in front of the Angel and the Force bolts disappeared inside.

"Fast thinking Gaia," I said. "Excellent work!"

"Where did you send the bolts?" Mystique asked.

Suddenly the ship was rocked by a massive explosion. An emergency siren began blaring as the deck tilted at a dangerous angle.

"I sent them to the aft part of the ship!" Gaia shouted back above the klaxon.

I sent a telepathic command to everyone to get back to the Danger Sled. All around us was chaos. Thanos alone seemed to be undisturbed. He got ready to shoot at us again. His eyes light up with unholy energy. The Angel rose up behind him and drove her spear deep through his chest. A terrible howl erupted from Thanos as the gathering energies dissipated.

A series of explosions rocked the ship. Jean levitated several of us and Gaia mentally carried the rest. We were able to make good time that way back to the Sled. Jon jumped into the pilot's chair and hit the engines.

"Burn rubber, man!" Hudson cried. Jon threw the ship into overdrive and we zoomed away from the battle cruiser just as it erupted it in a massive fire ball.

"I hope your Guardian Angel will be alright," I said to Maggie.

"Of course. She can move between dimensions easily. The explosion would not have hurt her."

"Then we're safe," Gaia offered hopefully.

"Not quite," Jon said. "I'm scanning a very large, heavily armed ship, Star Destroyer class, moving in. They're hailing us."

Jon flicked a switch and a strange alien voice cackled over the communicator. "This is Brood Empress Claktara. You may have stopped our invasion plans for your world, but you will not survive to enjoy your victory."

"Can you out run it?" Maggie asked Jon.

"Not a chance."

"Gaia, can you destroy that ship?" I asked.

"I-I can't get . . it's way too big, Professor. But I can try to . ."

Gaia's comment was cut off as laser fire from the Destroyer smashed into the Sled's hull, sending us all flying. Fire broke out in the already damaged ship.

"They're firing torpedoes!" Hudson cried in despair.

Suddenly another voice came across the still open communicator channel.

"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise to the Captain of the Danger Sled. Do you need some help, Jon?"




The strong English voice of Picard filled our team with hope. A barrage of photon torpedoes launched from the Enterprise and blasted the Brood Destroyer. Phaser fire tore through it's command center. Gaia was able to open another dimensional rift in front of the Brood torpedoes coming for us and teleport them on the other side of their ship so that the missiles blasted the Destroyer. Soon the Brood ship was disabled.

"I thought you had returned to your own time," I told Picard through the communicator.

"Well, I've seen how much trouble you are always getting into, Professor. I thought it might be best to delay my departure. Jon, is your ship in good enough condition to make it back to Earth?"

"We'll be just fine, Captain. Thanks for the assist."

The Enterprise stayed with us on the trip home, which thankfully was uneventful for once.